New Website

I have recently made steps towards becoming a freelance editor and writer.
I have created a website for myself for this purpose and have moved this blog onto that website.
Therefore, all further posts will be posted on that website.

Follow this link to access the new website - do tell me what you think!

If you know of anyone in need of a freelance editor or writer, send them my way!

I will no longer be using this blogspot page so if you want to contact me, go via my website.

Thanks

FILM: Moana

I loved Tangled. I loved Frozen more. Brave is one of my favourite films. Recently, Disney have been outdoing themselves.
I had very high hopes for this film - and, I suppose, high expectations.
But, to be really honest...it was a bit crap, wasn't it?
The story wasn't believable, the script wasn't very good, Maui was downright annoying and can you remember any of the songs?
The lyrics were pretty bad, the melodies weren't catchy, there wasn't a 'big number'...the songs were just not very good.
It was quite a let down. There's a reason why people aren't going on about this film, and why people are still going on about Frozen. It felt like a desperate attempt at another great Disney princess...an attempt that fell on its face.

FILM: Trumbo

Bryan Cranston seems to be one of those forgotten actors (you know his as Walter White from Breaking Bad) - people don't go on about his brilliant acting like they go on about, eg, Leo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp.
Bryan Cranston outdoes himself in this film.
(True story) Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter in the late 1940s. Jailed and blacklisted for being a communist in America, Trumbo and his political friends find a way around their blacklisting using pseudonyms for their works. It is discovered that Trumbo secretly wrote award-winning films like Roman Holiday and Spartacus.

Cranston is brilliant in this intellectual and political drama.
I thought the film was good - there was only one thing keeping it from being fantastic. Helen Mirren.

Helen Mirren is one of those incredibly famous actresses who, I think, is rarely actually good in anything. Her character in this film is portrayed in a very simplistic way - 'I'm not a nice woman because I'm just not'. That kind of character...

It's an interesting look at the communist scare in America in the 1940s, and it's always interesting watching Cranston tackle another character.

FILM: Good Vibrations

Here's a feel-good film about foolhardy determination. It tells the true story of Terri Hooley who opened a record shop in Belfast amidst the riots and troubles in Ireland in the 1970s. Terri is a music-lover, idealist, radical, and rebel will do anything to make his dream a reality.

The film features portrayals of the young Undertones, who he discovered and produced. Terri is a lovable character who, in the end, has his own human flaws.
I didn't agree with all of his choices in the film, but his determination is inspirational and heartening.

It's a feel good film that will get you listening to the old rock classics from the 70's and 80's.

BOOK: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Here is a fascinating book about art and language. This is the first Joyce novel I've read - well, I've dipped into Ulysses and Dubliners - and I will definitely be testing his other works in the future! (I'd like to try Finnegan's Wake).
The book's narration develops alongside the age and education of our protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. The book isn't about the story of Stephen, it's about the development of the character as a person - his religions, philosophical ideologies, his intellect, and the ways in which Stephen views the passing of every day life.
The novel begins like it is being told from the eyes of a toddler and quickly zooms through basic memories to Stephen's teenage years. As a teenager, Stephen revels in life, breaking all manner of Catholic moral rules. His sins grow and grow and eventually Stephen cowers under the might of his God and turns to repentance. The last chapter develops his ideals and turns him away from religion.
The novel is an experiment in the development of character, his good and bad sides painted onto the way the novel is written. Written in five acts, it really is like a portrait, only in novel form.

FILM: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner tells the story of the life of Amir Khan, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his best friend, Hassan, to the cruelty of the local bullies - an event that changes the two forever. The last third of the novel tells of Amir's desperate attempt at salvation; trying to redeem his childhood cowardice.
The story is also about the radicalisation of Afghanistan, and the mass exodus from Kabul to Pakistan and the US.

The Kite Runner had A LOT to live up to, for me. The book was one of the most wonderful books I've ever read (in my opinion), and I was very intrigued to see how the film would portray it.

The trouble is, the book is all in the mind of our protagonist, Amir. We see him grow up, we grow through his moral torments bit by bit, we see his wrong doings, his emotions, and fears. The plot very much depends on what is going on in Amir's mind. But the film doesn't quite capture this.

As itself, the film is good. There may come a time when I end up watching it again with a friend (I wouldn't be the one to pick it, though). But in comparison to the book, the film falls short.
The acting and direction and script are great. As a film it ticks all the boxes for me. As an adaptation - it doesn't.

FILM: Into the Wild

Into the Wild...A wonderful true story about a teenage boy, Christopher McCandless, who burns all his money and goes to find freedom, living alone in the wild. He renames himself Alexander Supertramp.
We watch his adventures along the way, and the close bonds he makes with people he meets. We also see the development in his philosophies.
He begins with a vague philosophy against material wealth - why do we have the constant need to own one more thing? I understand this philosophy and I can see where he is coming from.
Throughout the film, he develops philosophies around freedom: he believes he will find ultimate truth when he wholly embraces nature - when he lives alone, surviving in the wild. This philosophy, I find harder to grasp - it ignores human nature.
The film is a great story - though I did feel it went on a bit too long. Our protagonist is a very interesting character with a difficult past (though I felt this 'difficult past' was a bit unnecessary to the film - it wasn't really about his past, it was about his mind and philosophy of life).
Warning: the film does not have a happy ending. It's a gruesome ending, which highlights the problems with Chris'/Alex's final philosophy.
He believes he will find 'truth' in ultimate solace in the wild, but soon discovers abject loneliness - relationships are a part of human nature. We naturally live in communities. Without anyone around to help for hundreds of miles, Alex dies of berry poisoning, having neglected to pay attention to his education of wild plants.

Overall, I thought the film was pretty good. A good adaption of the true story, well acted/directed/scripted.

It's not a story that will make you want to follow in his footsteps - but it is a story that will make you think about human nature, the mind, and the way society has developed.

FILM: Woyzeck

Woyzeck is the story of a soldier who provides for his lover, Marie, and illegitimate child by doing odd jobs around the town. He works as the doctor's experiment subject who puts him on strange diets. As a result, Franz slowly goes mad, while discovering Marie's affair with the local drum major, ending in violence. It is based off an unfinished play by Georg Büchner.


Here is Klaus Kinski in his element - playing a mad man. It is common knowledge that Kinski was considered by many to be mad himself, only a lot louder than the madness of his characters. He brilliantly plays this simple character and the development of his madness is interesting to watch.

The plot is quite simple for a Herzog film, as are the characters.
Kinski began filming this film only days after the filming of Nosferatu had finished, so reached the set in a state of exhaustion which definitely adds to the confused and mad look in the character's face.

Of the Herzog films I have seen so far, this is my least favourite, simply because it is rather simple - there's not much depth in the topics - and because I have already seen Kinski play a mad character in Aguirre, Wrath of God, which he did so magnificently. Having said that, Woyzeck is definitely worth a watch - it may be my least favourite Herzog film but it is, by all means, still a good film. What I mean to say is, Herzog may not out-do himself in this film, but it still is a Herzog film - and Herzog, it seems, cannot go wrong.

BOOK: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

What a roller coaster of madness!

The story of the book is about a soldier in the second world war, Yossarian, who constantly strives to get himself out of the air force. He will do anything to stop being a pilot as he is terrified of flying missions - his role is to drop bombs from a plane (with a team) and try his hardest to get out of the artillery gun fire sent from below without dying, or having any of his men die. You can understand, then, why he wants out. We see many of the horrific situations he has been in during missions, and numerous characters die throughout.

But that makes the book sound simple! Oh no. 

There are about 50 different characters, all with their own eccentricities and bits of madness, all of which are complex, fascinating people, and all of which have aspects to commend and aspects to condemn. They are all normal people who have been put through, and exist in, very abnormal circumstances which slowly drive them insane. 

The plot doesn't follow a structure. After reading it, you could sit down and work out the exact order of events if you wanted, though that wouldn't add much to the book, if I'm honest. The unstructured, chaotic jumping from one memory to another adds to the madness of the whole thing. 

I found it difficult to read, at first, because the style of this book is like nothing you will ever have read before. You get to the middle of the book and it gets good. You get to the end, and it is BRILLIANT and you want to re-read the beginning because now you understand it.

It's confusing, it's intelligent, it's witty, it's horrific, it's nasty, it's sad, it's hilarious, it's mad - and it can do all these things in one paragraph.

Every sentence is there for a reason. 

---

If you're interested in the English Language and the way it works, read this book. If you want to look into the English Language and the way it works, read this book.

I don't recommend it to anyone who reads just for the sake of plot and action. This is a deeply intelligent, insightful book about madness and language and, I think, requires a philosophical frame of mind to understand it.

It is framed around the notion of 'catch 22': "a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions."

Example:

Yossarian wishes to stop flying missions.

If you are crazy, you are allowed to stop flying missions.

Yossarian wishes to have it noted that he is crazy so that he can stop flying missions.

However, crazy people are crazy enough to want to fly missions.

If Yossarian is not crazy, he must continue flying missions. 

If Yossarian really is crazy, he would want to fly the missions.

Yossarian does not want to fly the missions, so he must not be crazy, and so, he must fly the missions.

Thus, either way, he must fly the missions.

Catch 22.

FILM: Everything is Illuminated

 Elijah Wood plays Jonathan, an odd American man who collects artefacts from his dead relatives. He wishes to look further into his Grandfather's past.
Eugene Hutz plays Alex, the son of a man who runs a service for people to discover histories of their ancestors in Ukraine - most of the people are, inevitably, Second World War Veterans.

Alex collects Jonathan from the station and brings him to a car driven by his mad Grandfather who has a mad Collie called Sammie Davis Jr. Jr.

A quiet and reserved Jew from modern America, a mad dog, a mad Grandfather, and a young Ukrainian man in one car, travelling around to try to find Jonathan's Ukrainian ancestry - it's hilarious.
It plays on the difference in cultures and the difficulties with language translation, while also bringing together a group of very clashing characters.

Here is a brilliant example of the typical kind of conversations they have throughout the film.

Despite its comical aspects, the film grows darker by the end as it delves into the dirty history of antisemitic Ukraine, and the somewhat ambiguous but dark history of Alex's Grandfather.

It's funny, it's beautiful, it's hard-hitting...it's a fascinating film.

(My partner discovered it because Eugene Hutz is in the brilliant Gypsy Punk band, Gogol Bordello - check them out!)

FILM: Fitzcarraldo

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald is an Irishman, known in Peru as Fitzcarraldo. Fitz has a dream to open an opera house in his town in Peru and will stop at nothing to get it. In order to raise money, he buys a boat and sails it down the infamous Pachitea River to begin work in the rubber trade. The untouched rubber trees are just off the Ucayali River which is blocked from the Amazon River by dangerous rapids. It becomes Fitzcarraldo's mission to get his large boat from the Pachitea River, over a mountain, and into the Ucayali River on the other side.

I really enjoyed this film. Not only does it involve the mad notion of dragging a boat over a mountain for the far-off goal of opening an opera house, it also involves a very interesting look at the clashing of two cultures as Fitz and his crew become entangled in a very ambiguous deal with a tribe of natives.
The story ends very unexpectedly, in a heart-warming way, which is unusual for Werner Herzog. I loved the ending - what a great entrance! I don't want to spoil it for you.
I love the fact that Herzog's films involve no special effects - there were no special effects to use when these were being made. This means that Herzog and his crew actually pulled a massive boat over a mountain with a tribe of natives (as Herzog tells in his documentary My Best Fiend). Totally mad.

FILM: Cobra Verde

Cobra Verde - Green Snake - is an enterprising outlaw (he murdered his previous boss when he discovered he was being financially exploited). He is taken in by a baron who owns a sugar plantation run by slaves. After impregnating the Baron's three daughters, he is sent to West Africa where he is to restart the slave trade.
An African king wants him killed and captures him. The king's nephew rescues him from capture and he is given an army of female warriors by who he trains to fight in order to overtake a king.
Having won the fight, the King's nephew turns on Cobra Verde who tries and fails to escape into the ocean on a large canoe.

This is one film in which Klaus Kinski doesn't play a mad man!
Characteristically for Herzog, the film doesn't involve a lot of dialogue, more an in depth look into the internal struggles of one character.

Do we like Cobra Verde? He is a murderer and a slave trader, but he's not nasty to his slaves like the other traders - he seems a more moral man than many of the other characters - perhaps a misunderstood man? He does like to disobey orders and refuses to pander to those with a higher station to him - qualities I tend to like in a character.
The film leaves one with their own individual opinion of the man, Cobra Verde, since it doesn't give it's own moral stance of the situation - it just shows the happenings.
In this way, the film is brilliantly a-moral: it doesn't have an opinion; that is left for the viewer.

FILM: What About Bob

After all of the serious films I've been watching, this one was a bit of a relief.
What About Bob is about a man with almost every mental disability there is (he's scared of everything) who gets terribly attached to his new psychiatrist, Dr Leo Marvin.
Bob is a lovely man, though clearly mad. He follows Leo Marvin who is on a family holiday in Martha's Vineyard. Leo's family befriend Bob against Leo's wishes, and Bob ends up spending a lot more time with Leo's family than intended and hilarity ensues - right?

Well, some of it is funny. Bob does manage to create some bizarre moments because of his strange collection of mental ailments.
Leo gets more and more stressed and angry due to Bob who - it seems - it actually doing a lot of good for the rest of the family. Leo ends up being more mad than Bob.
Bill Murray's character is funny and lovable and, in that sense, it's a sweet film about a misunderstood man. However, Dr Leo Marvin is, at first, a realistic representation of a typical working father - he wants his kids to grow up his way, and wants to lead his life his way. He's very stuck in his ways and surprisingly unkind for a psychiatrist...his character nearing the end of the film got a bit tiring. He just gets more stressed and more angry.
So I suppose it's a film about the negative businessman reading a book by its cover. A good enough message, I suppose.
This message is definitely better than the comedy - I chuckled a bit.

FILM: The History Boys

With a star-studded cast, this film made Dominic Cooper and James Corden famous.
Written by Alan Bennett, starring Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour, this film was always going to be good.
It's about the struggle of a group of school boys doing their best to get into Oxbridge.
It tackles issues like homosexuality, paedophilia, education (how one should be educated), elitism in schools, and the life of a teenage schoolboy.
It tackles quite a lot in one go.
The lead roles are brilliantly acted, though the film doesn't have much depth to the characters - you could either say this makes the characters easier to act, or you could say the acting was brilliant because there wasn't much character for the actors to use.
The film seems to laugh its way through really troubling topics - like the relationships between the boys and their teachers.
The question is, were the decisions made the correct ones to make?
When the headmaster discovers the paedophilic actions of Richard Griffiths' character, he quietly fires him and does all he can not to make a scene for the sake of his school's reputation. Shouldn't he have got the police involved? Considering it is set in the 1980s, when this sort of thing happened frequently, should we just take it on the chin or should we condemn the headmaster along with the teacher nonetheless?

FILM: Nosferatu: The Vampyre

Another film by Herzog, this is a really interesting look at the legend of Dracula; Nosferatu being an archaic Romanian word for 'vampire'.
Our main character, Jonathan, rides from Wismar, Germany, to Dracula's castle in Transylvania (yeah, he rides the entire way on horseback seemingly without any breaks...) to talk to Count Dracula about the deeds to a large house Dracula wishes to buy in Wismar.
Dracula locks Jonathan in his castle and drinks his blood at night. He leaves the castle hidden in a pile of coffins and is shipped onto a boat to Wismar, followed by a swarm of disease-ridden rats.
Dracula is particularly fascinated by Jonathan's wife, Lucy, who lets him drink her blood one night to be caught by the morning sun, which kills him.
Each role is brilliantly played. Klaus Kinski plays the sinister and haunted Dracula, Isabelle Adjani plays Lucy, the unheard heroin who suffers Dracula and the wake of chaos he leaves behind, and Bruno Ganz plays Jonathan who slowly turns into a vampire because of Dracula's bite. Kinski plays Dracula in a way that shows he is cursed, not merely evil. It's a haunted and lonely character - I began to feel sorry for him.
The story of Dracula is too famous for the film to be full of surprises, but it is wonderfully suspenseful and full of surreal moments and great acting that we forget we know the story.

FILM: Aguirre, The Wrath of God

This was the first in a line of Klaus Kinski films directed by Werner Herzog. Kinski, possibly mad himself, is brilliant at playing the insane.
This is a slow moving film about a group of Spanish soldiers (though the film is in German) who are searching for El Dorado against all odds.
They befall many troubles along the way, a lot of them due to the madness of Aguirre, and the following he gathers when threatening violence.
From starvation and sickness, the group of soldiers all die, and the film ends with a mad Aguirre stumbling around, talking to himself.
With hints of incest, and clear madness, and a lot of death, this film is dark in a calm sort of way.
It's a 'stick at it' kind of film - it's an exploration into madness and leaders, not plot.
If you're interested in discovering arty foreign films, this is a good start.

FILM: Leon - TOP 5

This film shot it's way into my top 5 favourite films of all time before it had even finished.
Jean Reno is now one of my favourite actors of all time. He's always brilliant at every role he does.
This film sat in my 'to watch' pile for months - why on earth did I neglect it?

 A 12 year old girl, Mathilda, (Natalie Portman's first role!) finds her abusive family murdered in her flat and takes refuge with her neighbour, Leon, who turns out to be a hit man. With a lot of persuasion, Mathilda has Leon teach her how to be a hit man - how to use guns, how to hit a moving target etc.
Mathilda wants to get revenge on the corrupt and malicious policeman who murdered her family (played by Gary Oldman).
It's a dark film that addresses the issues of childhood and innocence, and the relationship between a fully grown man and a 12 year old girl who is, in some sense, incredibly mature for her age, and in others, very vulnerable and in need of love and care.

You will totally fall for Leon within minutes - he's a down to earth, hard-hearted, depressed man, yet the most wonderful father-figure; so understanding, so kind, so thoughtful, and protective.
No, it doesn't have a happy ending  - or a happy anything, really. But it's beautiful, and the acting is astoundingly good.

FILM: Mullholland Drive

I struggled with this one.
Basically, the plot is told backwards. The question is, when you reach the end of the film, can you work out the sequence of events? Can you work out what is actually going on?

The acting is great, and the cinematography etc etc, however, the plot is very hard to grasp and, though that's kind of the point of the film, there's being subtle and mysterious, and then there's downright confusion.
It's always good when you finish a film and find yourself discussing its finite details - but what if? Why did he do that? I loved it when...etc. It's not so good when you finish the film so dumbfounded that you have to spend half an hour working out what actually happened - and even when you've worked it out, you're not 100% sure you're right.
That could appeal to some - those who like films about madness, films full of mystery, films that play with the idea of plot...I just found it difficult to keep track of things.
There were so many bizarre things that went unexplained (what was the homeless guy about?). I suppose you could say they were left to the imagination...but we were given no hint as to how some scenes had any correlation to anything that the imagination simply has no idea what to do with itself.
The concept itself, once you begin to understand what you just watched, is brilliant. It's a really clever look into madness. Sometimes you hear people say "just stick with it, it's gets good" or "things start to unravel soon". With this film...stick to the end (I know that may be a big ask for some). It becomes a very good film at the end, and it might unravel itself to you.

FILM: Jason Bourne

The latest film in the Bourne saga, this film did not disappoint.
Remember when they thought it was a good idea to have a Bourne film without Matt Damon? Yeah...we're glad that idea is down the drain.
This film harkens back to the Matt Damon's brilliant portrayal of Jason Bourne, looking at things from a new angle, this time.
So Jason knows who he is, he mostly knows his background, he remembers why and how he was shot in the first place...but there's more history to be uncovered - history that he didn't forget, he just didn't know about it.
It's all centred around the mysterious death of his father...

It's full of the action and great dialogue we've come to know. We get a car chase! It's back to the brilliance of the old Bourne films, with intelligence and wit, emotion, and brutal reality.
I've always loved the Bourne films.
The first film will always be the best in the series, the second  lacked a bit, the third picked up, the Bourne Legacy was a traincrash, and the fourth - this new one - sits somewhere inbetween 1 and 3.
If you like action films, Matt Damon, and/or the old Bourne films, watch this new one!

FILM: Le Visiteur

So you thought The Princess Bride was silly?
This is of the same ilk but sillier. 
A 12th century knight get accidentally sent to the end of the 20th Century by a wizard (who looks suspiciously like Merlin). 
Hilarity and chaos ensues. Our knight, Godefroy, finds the descendent of the woman he was supposed to marry, who is convinced he is her estranged cousin (they look so alike) who has gone mad and thinks he's a 12th century knight.
The descendent of the servant, Jacquouille, is rich and owns a large hotel and the two families still work closely together.
Jacquouille befriends a woman who lives on the streets.
While trying to convince everyone of their true identity, Godefrey and Jacquouille must find the descendent of the wizard to give them the right potion and send them back in time. 

The film is done brilliantly. It is a hilarious, light-hearted fun watch. 
Jean Reno, the wonderful french actor (who is known for much more serious roles!) is fabulous, somehow managing to keep a straight face. 
If you like Monty Python and The Princess Bride, I guarantee you'll like this film! Don't be put off by the fact that it's in French. If you're put off by subtitles, you're going to miss some of cinema's greatest films.

FILM: The Martian

Matt Damon totally shone in this film.
It's one of those close looks at one person's survival in a bizarre situation (compare it to '127 Hours' and 'Gravity'). Mark Watney is part of an astronaut crew who have gone to Mars to research the soil on its surface. A huge storm forces them to hurry back to the ship - the crew all make it except Mark. He is presumed dead and is stranded. He must survive on his own scientific skill and survival tactics to keep himself alive long enough to be rescued.
The film jumps from his situation to the rescue attempt back on earth (it takes quite a while for them to figure out he's still alive).
Mark thinks up incredibly clever ways of growing food, of keeping himself occupied, and finally, of communicating with earth.
We watch Mark Watney go through so much - pain, fear, joy, excitement, loneliness... of all things, what troubles him most is his loneliness.
There are so many barriers for him to break through, and so many ups and downs that it keeps the plot moving. The majority of the film is watching his mind at work.
It's not an easy part to play - Matt Damon is having to slowly and subtly develop the character's mental state throughout the film, showing his character's change from beginning to end.
It's not an earth-shattering film as the survival idea has been done before, but the ingenuity of Mark Watney is done well, and Damon's acting is fabulous (not sure if I could say the same for the characters on earth and the rest of his crew, though...)

FILM: Captain Fantastic

If you like Viggo Mortensen, watch this film. If you're interested in alternative ways of bringing up children, watch this film. If you're interested in education, watch this film. If these three things don't appeal to you...watch this film - because they will afterwards.
Ben Cash (Viggo) and his wife decided on a radical way to bring up their children. They bought a camper van and set up a self-contained home in a forest in America. The children are being brought up in the woods, away from normal society, learning to survive by the land. They are educated by their father who has them reading literature, philosophy, and history from a young age, and quizzes them on their knowledge and opinions; it is very important to him that they have their own opinions.
That is, until their mother kills herself.
They have to leave home and drive a long way across America, integrating with modern society, to go to their mother's funeral.
It has hilarious consequences, interesting consequences, and some quite gruelling consequences.
The children do not fit in with modern society; they think and behave differently to other children, and were educated differently. As a result, there are some hilarious encounters with the outside world. It also brings up some interesting points about child-rearing, and education. At first, we're enchanted with the radical path Ben and his wife chose, but it soon becomes clear that it's not as perfect as it seems.

FILM: The Jungle Book

For those who don't know the story: Mowgli is an orphan child who was found in the jungle by Bagheera, the panther, and raised by wolves (Mowgli is referred to as the 'man cub'). Shere Khan, the infamous tiger (who killed Mowgli's father) has come back to their part of the jungle looking for the 'man cub', so Mowgli must leave the wolf pack to keep them out of danger. The plan is to take him to the man village though, of course, this plan is derailed and Mowgli ends up having adventures and meeting some new animals...

This remake of Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book' is inevitably going to be compared to the famous Disney version. It stays closer to the book than the Disney version is however, for fans of the Disney version, it does reference some of the famous songs, such as Bear Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You.
The visual effects in this film are astounding and the brilliant animation of the animals really adds to the story.
Ignoring the fact that it is set in India, yet his accent is distinctly American, the part is played pretty well considering the age of Neel Sethi, and the fact that he's having to act on his own since all of the other characters are digitally made.

FILM - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The wizarding world's new story - based on the non-fiction book referenced in Harry Potter, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them, written by Newt Scamander.
It explores the coming together of his to-be-written book which, later, makes him a famous magi-zoologist.
However, the writing of this book isn't the focus of the story. Newt has come to New York to find a rare creature for his suitcase - a suitcase which holds a huge sanctuary for endangered species and injured animals that Newt has saved and learned about in his travels.
His simple plan to retrieve one creature soon spirals out of control and his creatures manage to find their way out of his suitcase...in a society where wizards and muggles are more divided than ever.
The plot is set up nicely, with promise of a hilarious adventure, and the great Eddie Redmayne playing our main character.
However, I felt that the film didn't quite live up to the hype. There comes a time when a successful franchise just needs to stop - I think the world of Harry Potter has already gone on too long (don't get me wrong - I am a big HP fan).
There are two main characters in the film that I think they could have done without (the mind-reading flapper girl, and the baker); they're not very fleshed out characters. There are also quite a lot of plot holes - how is our detective woman an auror in the American ministry of magic when she's such a bumbling mess all the time? There are wizards and witches who can read minds (without having studied occlumency)? There are also a few issues with the rules set out in the wizarding world - eg wand law (but I won't go into that now as it's super-nerd stuff).

Book: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Short and simple (much like this post), but brilliantly written. I read this cover to cover on a 3 hour train journey.
I think if I hadn't known the oh-so-famous twist it would have been more interesting - I suppose the phenomenon of double personality disorder was less known when this was written, hence the fictional, fantastical exploration of insanity in this book.
I loved the sinister description of Mr Hyde, and the magic elements of chemistry experiments. It's very much about the magic-like qualities of the basic elements of nature; scientific elements mirroring the basic elements of human nature.
When I say 'magic', I don't refer to the magic we see in Harry Potter or Narnia; it's more a darker, sinister, unnatural phenomena.
It's brilliant for a 'classic literature' fix, especially when you have got the strength/time/energy to make your way through the significantly heavier books of this sort, eg Dickens, Hardy etc.

I hadn't read anything by Robert Louis Stevenson before, but I'll be adding some of his to my mile long reading list...

This is another tick on my reading challenge!

FILM: The Danish Girl

I've been meaning to watch this film ever since it came out.
It's an incredible true story of a transgender woman's strength and perseverance to become the person she was always supposed to be.
There is still a lot of transgender stigma today, but in the 1920's being transgender was almost unheard of. The word 'transgender' had not yet been coined (it was coined in 1965). When today, there may be a considerable amount of bullying involved, the film shows how in the 1900's bullying was only the beginning. Transgender people were considered mad; most likely considered schizophrenic. The film shows the incredible leaps we have made in understanding the phenomenon, but also shows the internal struggle of a woman trapped inside a man's body (and vice versa) - highlighting that although we have made leaps and bounds towards social understanding, the mental strain of it is just as hard today as it was then, we simply have more psychological research and acceptance in the field.
Eddie Redmayne is, yet again, flawless. His acting is always so outstanding, you entirely forget the actor every time. He is not afraid to take on challenging and controversial roles. He entirely steps out of his shoes and becomes another person. In this case, he seamlessly acts two people at once; Lily, and the man she uses as her cover up, Einar. Eddie Redmayne pinpoints the exact issue at hand in this film; the misunderstanding that Einar/Lily is not mad or schizophrenic or in need of psychological
help; all she needs is to be accepted as a woman, and to see herself as a woman.
It shows that psychological help isn't only needed for the mad, but for the distressed, for those who struggle, for those who are misunderstood, for those who are misrepresented or unrepresented.
Despite this film being set in the 1920's when our medical aid was not nearly so advanced, it still rings true today to many such cases, which are becoming more and more common as it becomes more and more accepted in society.
Watch this film if you are ready to learn, ready to have your mind blown, and ready to take on a whole new understanding of the way a mind works.

FILM: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

This film starts off really well.
Our protagonist, Jake, is a teenage boy with, what seems, quite a dull life and not very nice parents. We don't see much of his life at home other than one encounter with the 'cool kids' from school, which makes us assume he hasn't really got much of a life.
He was very close to his Grandfather growing up, who told him many fabulous stories about a home for children with special abilities.

The background to the plot is set out well. It does take up a bit too much time and introduces us to some unnecessary characters (I consider characters unnecessary when they haven't contributed to the development of the characters/plot), but we quickly understand the relationship between Grandfather and Grandson, and the essence of the film's plot. The Grandfather is played brilliantly by Terence Stamp. Unfortunately, this excellent choice of casting doesn't last long - Terence Stamp's character is frequently discussed but not seen very much.

FILM: True Grit

I worked out just how much I liked this film about five minutes in.
Our protagonist is Mattie Ross, a gutsy fourteen year old girl who stands up to the growling drunkard, Rooster Cogburn (played brilliantly by Jeff Bridges), and the man she seeks revenge on: the infamous Tom Chaney.
Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie brilliantly, making the viewer wonder where the character got her gutsy courage and independence from, while also highlighting her childish innocence and vulnerability.
Jeff Bridges excellently pulls off the (secretly soft-hearted) dangerous and irresponsible Cogburn, while Matt Damon plays a Texas Ranger who, unusually for Matt Damon, is an unattractive character we deeply dislike.

The acting and characterisation in this film is so wonderful because the characters each have such detailed traits; traits that frequently contradict one another.

BOOK: Exodus by Julie Bertagna

The first time I read this, I must have been about ten years old. My mum's old friend use to give me books every birthday - this was one the first he gave directly to me (as opposed to mum, who would read them to us).

Having never read anything like it before in it's style or genre, I was blown away. I fell into it's world like it was my own secret place that no one else knew about. It influenced my writing and my thoughts so much that I started reading bigger, more difficult books, turning away from books by Jacqueline Wilson and Enid Blyton.

I recently re-read this book for the fourth time. I acknowledge now that the writing is not spectacular - it's one of those books that makes less and less sense as the plot fills with action - the surroundings aren't described enough so you don't quite understand how some things come about. There's also a very hurried love affair that doesn't quite click with the reader.

FILM: La La Land

I have two words for this film: magically spellbinding. 
In my opinion,  this is easily one of the most beautiful films of all time.

When I first saw Mamma Mia, I cried with joy. Literally, tears flowed from joy. I went to see it again the following weekend and then went to the sing-along on the same day.

I love this film FAR more than I loved Mamma Mia. I'm going to be re-watching this film many many times. I cried with joy, with happiness, with awe, with exhilaration, with understanding, with sadness...I'm pretty sure I cried throughout the whole film, because it understood me and the desperate dream.

The singing lacked a bit - neither Gosling or Stone have much power to their voices, but a Streisand type voice wasn't really
necessary for the film.

Reading Challenge 2017

12 novels in total...

A book published this year

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

A book I can finish in a day

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

A book I've been meaning to read

Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemmingway

A book recommended by local librarian/bookseller

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

A book I should have finished in school

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

A book chosen by partner

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (Reading)

Post Numero Uno

Hello Blogasphere!

This is my very first blog post here!

For this blog, I will be writing book reviews of the books I have read, and film reviews of the films I have watched.

Participating in reading challenges helps me to keep reading, so I'll be logging that on here, too. 

I also have a playlist of music at the bottom of the page.

The aim is to discuss books, music, and films with people who wish to discuss them,  and last but not least, discover new music, books, and films!
Please do recommend me books to read/films to watch! I'll write reviews on them as soon as I can.

1) Book Reviews

I will be publishing book reviews of the books I read when I was young, when I was a teenager, in university, just for fun, only a few days/weeks ago...etc

Do feel free to recommend books for me to read!

2) Film Reviews

I'll be doing the same with film reviews. Not all of the reviews will be nice and sweet - there will be some I'll warn you about, and some I'll rave about.

3) Reading Challenge
I'll be updating this as I go along (to be posted on my 'Book Reviews' page.)
Here is the list so far: